The Sekyere Afram Plains District Director of the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), Francis Oppong, has admonished the youth to contribute to the fight against violent extremism to promote peaceful co-existence, harmony and national cohesion.
He cautioned that violent extremism was a threat to national peace, stability, security, unity, harmony, cohesion and development and called for conscious efforts to guard against the menace as a country.
Mr Oppong said violent extremism and terrorism had evolved into a serious threat to international peace with debilitating consequences for human security and safety.
He was speaking at a town hall meeting organised by the Commission to sensitise and educate participants on the need to maintain peaceful co-existence and national cohesion and harmony at Drobonso.
The meeting formed part of the national campaign on violent extremism being spearheaded by the NCCE in collaboration with the Ministry of National Security.
Funded by the European Union (EU), the workshop sought to empower the citizenry to be security conscious and also volunteer information to security agencies on suspicious characters to foil possible attacks.
Mr Oppong advised the participants to desist from activities that could spark any form of violence and disturb the peace, stability, unity, harmony and cohesion in their communities.
Nana Kwame Okrah, the Deputy District Coordinating Director, told the participants that encouraging and condoning acts of violence could make them accomplices and urged them to rather report such perpetrators.
He cited several examples to demonstrate how violent extremism could affect the socioeconomic development of the country and counselled them to always consider the national interest in all their endeavours.
He mentioned youth unemployment, extreme partisanship, and religious beliefs as some of the factors driving violence in communities and appealed to the youth not to allow themselves to be used as tools to perpetrate violence.
Kojo Adjormadoh of the Regional Directorate of the Commission, entreated the participants to live in peace and harmony to create an environment for progress, growth and development. -GNA
